Endangered Species

Working to reduce the effects of contaminants and other stressful impacts on fish wildlife and their habitats and to plan, implement and monitor restoration projects so that fish and wildlife resources can be recovered.

Environmental Contaminants

Working to reduce the effects of contaminants and other stressful impacts on fish wildlife and their habitats and planning, implementing and monitoring restoration projects so that fish and wildlife resources can recover.

Kids' Species Information

California Clapper Rail

STATUS

Endangered. "Endangered" means that we are afraid a species may become extinct.

DESCRIPTION

The California Clapper Rail is one of the largest rails.
It is 32-47 cm from the tip of its bill to the tip of its tail. (13-19 inches) It looks like
chicken with a long, slightly downward-curving bill. Its upper parts are olive-brown. Its
breast is cinnamon-buff colored.

Clapper rails are secretive. They are hard to see in dense vegetation.
(See photo above) Once flushed, they can frequently be approached.

When evading discovery, clapper rails typically freeze, hide in small sloughs
or under overhangs. They may run rapidly through vegetation or along slough bottoms.

Clapper rails prefer to walk or run rather than fly or swim.
When flushed, they normally fly only a short distance before landing. They can swim well.
But they only swim to cross sloughs or escape threats at high tide.

Clapper rails are most active in early morning and late evening.
They forage in marsh vegetation in and along creeks and mudflat edges. They often roost
at high tide during the day.

FOOD

Mostly things like mussels, crabs and clams.

HABITAT

Salty and brackish water marshes with pickleweed and cordgrass.

RANGE

The marshes of San Francisco estuary. In south San Francisco Bay,
there are populations in all of the larger tidal marshes. Distribution in the North Bay is patchy.
Small populations are widely distributed in the San Pablo Bay and Suisun Marsh.

MATING

The breeding season begins by February. Nesting starts in
mid-March and extends into August. Clutch sizes range from 5 to 14 eggs. Both parents share
in incubation and rearing.

PREDATORS

THREATS

The places where the rails can live have become more broken up.
This makes it easier for predators like the non-native red fox and feral cats to catch rails.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP BIRDS

There are many things you can do to protect birds. Here is some information on migratory bird conservation.
It is about migratory song birds. But much of it applies to all birds.

Keep your cat inside. Cats kill millions of birds per year. Even well-fed
cats kill birds. It is just their nature to hunt. Living indoors is also much safer for the cats themselves.

When you go to the beach, pay attention to signs warning you that birds
are nesting. Many shore birds nest right on the beach. They are easily disturbed. Don't let your
dog chase or bark at them.

Whenever you go to natural areas, observe any signs telling you how to
protect wildlife and plants.

The common names of bird species are capitalized. So we write California Clapper Rail.
But if you are writing about rails in g eneral, you should use lower case. Learn more from this Wikipedia article.